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The festive season passes all to quickly (or maybe non to quickly depending on your point of view) but nevertheless as human beings it behooves us to keep our lives celebratory, adventurous or even carnivalesque if it’s our wont. So join P&O Ferries in 2018 to see what you can discover on your travels.

One of the other major Winter events in France is the City of Nice’s Carnival. Make your way to the south coast for one of the brightest spectacles in Europe this side of Summer. The theme for 2018 is King of Space what better way to rid yourself of winter’s cobwebs then taking a trip down to the riviera for a bit of mediterranean sun and a festival fun? In 2018 February 17th to March 3rd a grand parade of floats bursting with colour and music will proceed throughout the city of Nice with thousands of dancers and musicians. To draw you in to the pulsing crowds float rides engage in flower battles’ wherein flowers are thrown at the onlooking crowd raining colour on the whole procession. Absolutely something not to miss for more details go to the Nice Carnival website.

It will certainly be worth booking well ahead for accommodation. This festival draws people from all across the world and after this long winter a bit of frivolity in the sun is what most people have a hankering for.

2018 marks the centenary of the close of the The Great War. As the site of much of the Western Front, the scars across the landscape of France have rightly never been forgotten. More details about the ceremonies dedicated to the fallen of this conflict will follow but expect busy travel and around Armistice in November, the Spring Offensives in March, Amiens and Meggido in late summer and autumn

You may be one of the many ferry travellers seeking to take advantage of duty free in what is lovingly known as a ‘booze cruise’ and why not? After all with current political upheavals it may not even option in the near future.

So if you are looking for something to do whilst waiting for your ferry, or feel that something a bit more edifying may be in order then Calais has a gilded cultural reservoir that may just provide a touch of illumination.

The Burghers statues are spread out across Europe and have a fascinating story behind them originating in Calais where Rodin’s original bronze statues are.

When Edward III laid siege to Calais after the battle of Crecy in 1346 the town was forced to surrender because the people were starving. The King demanded that 6 of its leaders submit to him, presumably for execution, wearing nooses around their necks and bearing the keys to the castle.

One of the richest town leaders Eustache de Saint Pierre was the first to volunteer followed by 5 other burghers. Burgher is a medieval term for citizen mainly denoting a member of the bourgeoisie or intelligentsia.

Edward’s wife, moved by this show of self-sacrifice, asked for mercy to be given since it would be a bad omen for her unborn child and the burghers were spared.The nobility of these men in the face of crushing defeat, willing to give up their lives in order for Calais to be spared, is now remembered in the form of Rodin’s sculptures.

Rather than set the burghers up on pedestals he has given them true human form, exhibiting the frailty and despair that the burghers must have felt. He felt it important that they not be raised up too high because it is their humility that has immortalised them. The statues are located at the front of the town hall of Calais, it was Rodin’s wish that a passersby could come across them almost unawares and feel a certain solidarity with the once saviours of Calais.

In the winter months the burghers, as an artwork, can proffer consolation to the reflective soul. As we all anticipate the coming of spring and new life; that which is hoped for for the coming year, though in all probability it will have its slings and arrows, can be weathered if we are but steadfast and just maybe a touch of human dignity, fey yet coarse though it may be might impart itself on you as you approach these unpresuming sculptures.

France has something for everyone, a family holiday to Disneyland, a romantic minibreak to Paris, a decadent food to tour for the gourmand, bacchanalian for the wine connoisseur, challenging genuflection for the artists and sublime vistas for those who glory in panorama.

P&O Ferries hopes to see you in 2018, voyages from Dover to Calais exeunt multiple times a day. A service is also provided form Hull to the ports Zeebrugge and Rotterdam in Belgium and the Netherlands